Senator Dick Durbin Has Been a Tireless Champion in Fighting to Protect Kids and Save Lives from Tobacco
Statement of Yolonda C. Richardson, President and CEO, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
April 23, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, who announced today that he will not seek re-election in 2026, has been one of the most consequential leaders in the long battle to reduce the devastating toll of tobacco use and secondhand smoke. Motivated by the death of his own father due to smoking, Sen. Durbin made the fight against tobacco a priority from the moment he arrived in Congress over 40 years ago. He leaves a legacy of far fewer kids who use tobacco, millions of lives saved and a movement for smoke-free air that has resulted in profound, lifesaving change across the nation and around the world.
Early in his congressional tenure, while in the U.S. House of Representatives, Sen. Durbin was the author of a landmark law that prohibited smoking on commercial airline flights. That law changed the world, sparking a global movement to make public places and workplaces smoke-free. Today we take it for granted that airlines, restaurants, bars and so many other places are smoke-free, but it wouldn’t have happened without Sen. Durbin’s leadership. Sen. Durbin was also a leading advocate for the Tobacco Control Act that gave the FDA authority over tobacco products and championed the federal lawsuit that resulted in a historic verdict that the major tobacco companies are racketeers who lied to the public for decades. In recent years, Sen. Durbin has worked to protect children from e-cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products.
In 2010, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids presented Sen. Durbin with our highest honor, the Champion Award. We couldn’t be more grateful for his extraordinary leadership and service to our country and his steadfast commitment to our cause. He will be greatly missed in Congress.